I've heard that Skin-So-Soft by Avon (the dry oil spray) is good for repelling flees in dogs... would it be alright to use on cats with no adverse affects? With dogs it seems alright, since dogs don't normally lick their bodies so much, but with cats? Could they become ill from cleaning and possibly ingesting it?

I've heard that Skin-So-Soft by Avon (the dry oil spray) is good for repelling flees in dogs... would it be alright to use on cats with no adverse affects? With dogs it seems alright, since dogs don't normally lick their bodies so much, but with cats? Could they become ill from cleaning and possibly ingesting it?

Um. I'm gonna go with "yes".

While I don't think a cat would get seriously ill, I do think it would be an awful thing to put on a kitty who cleans its fur with its tongue. I prefer to use the spot-on flea treatments for my cats, and even when using those products, you need to be sure to get it on the skin at the back of the neck/shoulder blades. I didn't get it on correctly once and poor BooBoo got a lick-ful and drooled something terrible. I suppose you could try a taste of the Avon-SSS and see what you think of it. Chances are, if you think it tastes nasty, the cats will, too.
I knew a lady who used the Avon-SSS on her two horses as a fly/bug repellent. I don't know if it worked any better than commercial fly sprays, but they smelled nice.

I found dozens of sites where they recommend it, but I agree with Heidi. Yuck! It does also say to put some in bath water along WITH flea treatment. That gets rinsed off and it's supposed to help with skin and fur softness, plus repelling NEW fleas. Now that would be okay, but not spraying it on afterwards, even if it does work.

That was definitely my number one concern... I didn't want to subject my cats to something that could potentially either taste nasty or be bad for them. I've tried it on my dogs will no ill effects, but like I said dogs don't lick themselves like cats do...

Which brings me to another question. What do you think of lavender? Would the same caution be advisable, or because it is natural do you think there wouldn't be any adverse affects?

There are websites with natural products that recommend all kinds of things that humans like as "safe for cats", but I don't really trust a lot of those recommendations. I would stay away from any of the aromatic oils for cats - lavendar, peppermint, etc. etc. Just from what I have read about cats' digestive system, and how sensitive their skin is to anything you put on it, I wouldn't take the chance of a bad reaction...

Yes, that is true... Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was something out there (and I'm sure there is, we just probably haven't found it yet, lol) that would be good for the cats at the same time bad for the fleas? But I suppose that wold only be in a perfect world, lol.

Skin so soft was once marketed as a mosquito repellant for people. Then the company got sued because it turns out the product doesn’t contain anything that repels mosquitoes in the least.

Some of my relatives still think it is good for mosquitoes. (some people are paranoid about DEET) I suspect the same thing is happening with cat and dog owners. Personally I wouldn’t put that stuff anywhere near my cats. The smell alone would give them a fit. I doubt it would even slow a flea down.

Thank you so much for the link, doodlebug! So many sites suggest using essential oils... maybe they should read that article first. I had no idea of any of that, thank you so much!

Did they say that just any SSS product, even the dry oil, is supposed to repel mosquitos? Or just the stuff with citronella in it? I mean, I won't be using that stuff on my cats... just curious. When we had to leave our dog outside the flies drove her crazy, so we used some of the stuff with citronella in it to dab a bit at the tips of her ears so they wouldn't bother her... it seemed to help. But then again, who knows. For my dogs I'm using the SSS dry oil, which actually makes their skin and fur really soft, even if it doesn't protect against fleas.